WolfAvni

Pale chanting Goshawk in Flight

I chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lo...
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I chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lot at the gate on my way out the park. Who would have thought it figures? :)

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NIKON D3

Aperture 8/1 ISO 1600 Shutter 1/1600 Focal Length 400/1

upload_date

Jul, 2016

Views

1044

Likes

+76

Awards

People's Choice in Raptors On The Wing - 1 Photo Challenge

Peer Award

+15

Magnificent Capture

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

All Star

Superb Composition

Superior Skill

Genius

Outstanding Creativity

Emotions

Impressed

It was worth it though, eh? Awesome image!!

would have been worth it, even without the image. God I love that place!!

Gorgeous capture! Congrats.

thank you JD. much appreciated

Congrats on peoples choice............lovely image................

thank you NH. unexpected. there is so much good work out here. very grateful.

PRO

Great Shot, Wolfie ! Love it, love it !

thanks Lindie

PRO+

Stunning capture. Great details and timing.

thank you catherine. sorry I missed your comment.

Fantastic image, congratulations! Nice!

thank you Neckbone

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

The difference between kneeling down and bending over.

an old shot at my home in the drakensberg, originally done on 6x12cm velvia rated at 32iso. Used a rollback film holder on a Sinar 4x5"plateback

scavengers squabble over last scraps at a carcass

9 image exposure stack. High cloud over the Drakensberg create a great golden bounce back into the water. Shot at my home Giant's Cup Wilderness

Behind The Lens

Location

Kgalagadi Desert.

Time

Around 7.00 a.m. Out in the African bush, the midday sun burns hard and hot. Average summer sun colour temperature comes in at about 6400~10,000 Kelvin. The shadows are hard and solid and the lightbtends to be very blue. . Wildlife photographers tend to concentrate on early morning and late afternoon, around the Golden half Hour.

Lighting

Generally birds in flight are shot against strong back-lighting. A bit of cloud cover helps diffuse the sun. the higher the cloud, the better the light bounce.

Equipment

Nikon d3 + nikkor 200~400mm f4 VRII . Off a Badger bean bag in car window.

Inspiration

This is an image I chased for about 3 months over 3 expeditions. I came close a dozen times... shooting off a beanbag in a car vwindow. But "almost " doesn't cut the mustard. Either the bird would take off away from camera, or the bird would launch as I blinked, or looked away, or stretched a stiff muscle. Fortunately these pale chanting goshawks are not uncommon in the Kalahari and the opportunity did present more than once. I just kept plugging away until it came together

Editing

Capture NX2. very little. Camera presets are all on neutral. I tend to just tap chroma upwards a tiny fraction, and then a pass of selective unsharp mask on the the resized 72dpi jpeg image ~generally between 1 ~3 pixel width.

In my camera bag

2x D3's, a range of old Nikkor analog lenses from 24mm ~500mm CPU lenses;14~24mm f2.8, 80~200mm f2.8, 200~400mm f4 VRII

Feedback

The opportunity in the bush is often fleeting. It helps to have the camera preset for birds IN flight SMALL BIRDS; preset Iso 3200, shutter speed 1/3200th, aperture f6.3 MEDIUM BIRDS; preset Iso 2500, shutter speed 1/2500th, aperture f7.1 LARGE BIRDS; preset Iso 1600, shutter speed 1/1600th, aperture f8

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WolfAvni

Pale chanting Goshawk in Flight

I chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lo... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow WolfAvni

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I chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lo...
Read more

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Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.